Guthrie Insurance Blog

The Worldâs Most Expensive Insurance Claims

18/03/2013

Guthrie Insurance

Damages add up big time for insurance industry.

Insurance policies provide your business with security and assurance that your assets and possessions are accounted for in the event of unfortunate circumstances that directly affect your operations. Problems arise and come in different forms, but during the past decade, certain elements have become regular contributors in creating the most expensive insurance claims. By being able to identify and learn more about these factors, you can figure out if including them in your insurance policy is worth looking into.

Natural elements

Today's headlines are always filled with news about natural disasters happening in different parts of the world. This tells us that calamities can strike anytime, anywhere. If you want your business to proceed with operations after enduring an earthquake or flood, talk to insurance brokers about products that address this concern.

To give you an idea of how insurance can help your company recover from natural disasters, take a look at the claims made after the Japanese earthquake of 2011 and the tsunami that followed. The media is rife with information on damaged property, including buildings and even whole fleets of cars. The total cost of insured losses is reported to have exceeded $100 billion.

This was not the first earthquake to rock the insurance and property industry in the previous decade. In the aftermath of the Chinese earthquake of 2008, millions of citizens found themselves homeless. The sad part is that a majority of them didn't purchase insurance policies prior the event, further adding to their plight.

In 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 affected the countries of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. A tsunami developed right after, leading to the deaths of more than 200,000 locals and tourists. The event coincided with Boxing Day, leading to estimates exceeding $1 billion in terms of insurable costs.

Hurricanes represent a different kind of disaster, but it brings about the same force of destruction to properties and livelihood. As if one is not enough, North America was hit by three major hurricanes in 2005. Overall costs of recovery reached $130 billion, with millions being claimed off insurance.

Terrorist elements

The infamy of 9/11 will forever haunt the hearts and minds all over the world. You can say it changed the way people thought about and approached their daily lives. In the same vein, businesses took a huge hit, with quite a number of operational heads losing their lives in theterrorist attack. During that day, businesses stopped and properties were turned to dust. A significant number of offices in the World Trade Centre were of a financial nature, further affecting even companies that operate abroad. It was estimated that over $40 billion was awarded to claims made for property, life and other relevant policy categories.

Human elements

To be "human" is sometimes referred to as having made a mistake. Such was the case when the North-East Blackout of 2003 wiped out power in Ontario, Canada and major cities in Eastern United States, including New York and Cleveland. The responsibility was traced to an independent contractor who managed the New York State power grid.

The direct consequence of this type of disaster is not readily defined. If you count in the number of businesses affected by grounded flights and looting of shops, you're looking at costs of about $6 billion being claimed for business interruption and property damage.

On a lower scale as compared to what has been previously discussed, company assets such as demonstration vehicles can figure in expensive insurance claims. In the competitive landscape of luxury automobiles, it's not surprising to find that even two Bugatti Veyron cars can represent a value of about $800,000. That's the amount of property that company engineers crashed during one of its testing procedures.

However, arguably the worst car-related disaster would have to go to the accident that happened in a Tokyo highway that happened late in 2011. The freeway pileup, which was caught by national television networks, involved 14 Ferrari speedsters.

In all of these cases, the incidents caught all the victims by surprise. But despite the unpredictable nature of these elements, you can try and control the path to recovery by being prepared financially. Take time to research about products available for businesses and see yourself climb up from being a victim to a satisfied insurance customer.

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